Stuttering
by Asanisan
Summary: Sakuno's got a hot date and it's not with Ryoma. RyoSaku
1. The Oneshot

**Stuttering**

"Hey, Ryoma, shouldn't you be doing something about that?" Horio asked while pointing across the classroom.

Ryoma turned around to see what Horio was worried about all he saw was the new transfer student talking to Ryuzaki."

"So what?" Ryoma asked in a bored tone as he turned back around.

"Dude, he's so scamming on your girl! I mean look at him! He's almost about to kiss her! Wait. He is kissing her!"

"What?" Ryoma asked as he turned back around.

The new guy was just kissing her hand. It was nothing to worry about. Ryuzaki was blushing, but her smile was forced. She wasn't interested in the guy. Ryoma turned back around with a bored look.

"Aren't you even the least bit worried?" Horio asked, astounded.

"No. Why should I be?"

"Why should you be?" Horio repeated incredulously. "Damn you're cocky. Don't you know?"

Ryoma was confused. "Know what?"

Horio smirked at him, glad that he could show off his awesome knowledge. "That guy's name is Hatsuhara. You know, like the guy in that famous shojo manga? Well, anyway, the guy in the manga is supposed to be like super hot or something and now all the girls are saying how he could so pass for the guy's real-life look-alike or something. Every girl in school wants to hook up with him! It makes me so jealous!"

"That so?"

"What? You're still not worried?"

"She doesn't like him. Why should I worry?" Ryoma asked, glancing off to the side and staring into space.

"Hey, look! I think he's asking her out."

Out of boredom and maybe some pleasure at watching the new guy getting shot down, he turned to watch. The guy was asking her out, leaning in close enough to make the girl go red in the cheeks. He saw her friend, Tomo-something, come up to the two with a wicked smile on her face.

"Oh course she'll go out with you!" the girl screamed for the whole classroom to hear. "Pick her up Friday at seven!"

Then the girl whisked Ryuzaki off before she could protest, as Ryoma was sure she was about to do. The new guy, Something-haru, looked at him with a big grin and had the balls to wink at him. He just turned around and waited for the bell to ring.

"You still think she's not interested in him? They've got a date," Horio said with a frown.

"Whatever."

Ryuzaki didn't say yes. Her friend did it for her. He wasn't worried. He was certain that she didn't like the new guy.

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"Why am I here?"

"So you can see that you have something to worry about, idiot!" Momoshirou yelled.

Horio had a big mouth and had told Momo-chan-sempai that Ryuzaki had a date and that he wasn't worried. Naturally, Momoshirou had decided to take it upon himself to spy on Ryuzaki's date and drag him along to do it.

"You got to be more careful, Ryoma-kun. You're going to end up losing her," his sempai explained.

Ryoma knew that would be next to impossible.

"Now, shut up! Here they come."

He had to wonder how Momoshirou knew the two would come to this restaurant. He also wondered how he knew exactly where to hide to get a good spot right next to the table the waiter was leading Ryuzaki and the new guy. Wait. That waiter was Tachibana's sister! That explained it.

It was really boring watching them order dinner. When Tachibana's sister left, the new guy started putting the moves on Ryuzaki. It was making him mad, but he wasn't worried. Whenever the guy tried to hold her hand, Ryuzaki pulled hers away. When the guy tried to rub her leg with his, she moved hers out of the way and apologized like she had just been in his way while he stretched or something. She was blushing furiously, but that was just Ryuzaki. She wasn't stuttering around this guy. Ryoma wasn't worried.

"Momo-sempai, can we go. Nothings going to happen," he said.

"Keep it down will you? Do you want to get caught?" Momoshirou whispered furiously. "I can't believe you're still not worried. Aren't you even mad at this guy? I'm starting to wonder if you care about Ryuzaki-chan at all."

"Tell me, Sakuno-chan, have you ever been kissed?" the new guy asked in a low voice.

She blushed beet red, but she didn't stutter. "No, not yet. I was saving it for the one I really like."

The new guy smirked. "Well, then…"

Ryoma saw the guy move toward her. He knew she would let him. She was too naïve to know what he was doing and once he did it, she wouldn't have the backbone to stop him. So, Ryoma punched him before he could kiss her.

It was a mess. The guy fell out of his chair. A salad bowl went flying. A couple of ladies screamed. A waiter dropped a pitcher of tea on the new guy's head. Ryoma didn't really care.

With one satisfying look, he forgot about that Hatsu-something guy and grabbed Ryuzaki's wrist.

"Come on, Ryuzaki. We're leaving."

"No!" she yelled and wrenched her wrist out of his grasp. "We can't just leave him like that."

He was surprised she had talked back. That's when he started to worry. She hadn't stuttered.

"What did you do that for, Ryoma-kun? He was just sitting there," her sweet voice spoke clearly. She walked over to where the guy was still sitting on the floor and tried to help dry the tea out of his hair.

He had no idea why, but that made him furious. He lost it.

"Just sitting there?! He was trying to kiss you, stupid!"

She jumped at the anger in his voice and her eyes went wide. "H-he was not!"

"Ask him if you don't believe me!" he yelled at her, angry and now frustrated by the hurt in her eyes.

"Is that true, Hatsuharu-kun?"

The guy just grinned at her, only slightly guilty. "Yeah, I did. I was hoping I might have been the one you were saving your first kiss for."

The ladies who had screamed a moment ago were cooing now at the romantic words. It just mad Ryoma madder.

"I told you so! You should be thanking me."

"H-h-how do you know…it wasn't H-hatsuharu-kun I was…talking about?"

He smirked at her question and all his worry and anger vanished. He walked up to her and stood so close he could feel her breath on his lips and the heat from her blushing cheeks.

"I know because you're stuttering," he said huskily.

Her breath caught and his smirk got wider. He held her wrist again and tugged.

"Come on," he said as he turned away so that her lips lightly hit his shoulder. "We're leaving. And there better not be any arguments this time."

He looked over his shoulder to see her shake her head no. He grinned and pulled her along, the Something-haru guy already forgotten.

He wouldn't kiss her yet. He wanted to, but now wasn't the time. He'd kiss her one day when she wasn't on a date with another guy and salad bowls didn't fly across the room. Maybe he'd kiss her when they went on _their_ first date. Maybe he'd kiss her some time even sooner than that. As he glanced back at her, he couldn't stop his eyes from locking on to pink lips. Most definitely some time sooner than that.


	2. The Sequel

**Stuttering:** The Sequel

Tooyama was here again, asking "Koshimae" for a tennis match and begging Sakuno to make him more rice balls.

They were all at the park courts. Ryoma had asked Sakuno here to practice with him. It was the closest he had got to asking her out so far, but in his mind it still didn't count as a date. But it was still very satisfying watching her jump around in that short skirt. Or at least it had been until that home wrecker Tooyama showed up.

The boy was the touchy, feely type and it was driving Ryoma insane! The boy couldn't keep his hands off her. If he wasn't hugging her, he was hanging off her shoulders. If he wasn't hanging off her shoulders, he was holding her hand. If he wasn't holding her hand, he was singing her praises.

"You want to know what I love best about Sakuno?" he asked her coyly, completely ignoring Ryoma ever since he had refused to play tennis with him.

"No. What?" she asked with a blush.

At least she didn't stutter in this boy's very presence. That thought comforted Ryoma. The feeling didn't last long though as Tooyama hugged her around the waist and laid his head on her shoulder.

"I love the way Sakuno makes me feel when I'm with her. It's like I'm about to fall asleep, like the feeling you get in autumn before the world goes to sleep in the winter. But then it's like I'm just about to wake up, like when the sun starts to shine and winter melts away to warm. It feels like a dream just starting to fade and reality fading into a dream all at the same time," he said sincerely, a big smile on his face.

She was speechless! He could see it. That damn boy had made her speechless. And her face was so red, he was sure her heart would fail any second with the lack of blood. How dare he do that to her?! Especially when Ryoma had never managed to affect her so! And then the bastard did it. He did the most heinous act in the history of heinous acts.

He squeezed her to him, kissed her shoulder and then…

"You'll marry me, right Sakuno?"

"A-a-ano…"

And she was stuttering at him!

Suddenly, a tennis ball hit the bastard in his ribs. It had enough force to bruise and left the boy winded. As soon as he stumbled away from the girl, Ryoma had grabbed her wrist and pulled her beside him. He glared fiercely at the boy trying to catch his breath on the ground.

"R-Ryoma!" she stuttered a scolding. "Kintarou-kun's a f-f-friend. H-how could you do that to him? I-I could understand Hatsuharu-kun, but K-Kintarou-kun…"

"Was making you uncomfortable," he brusquely finished for her with a threatening glare at her.

She was immediately struck speechless and her eyes looked hurt. At the wounded look in her eyes, he felt horrible.

"Heh. What's wrong, Koshimae?" Tooyama asked with a slight wheeze. "If you wanted to play tennis, you should have…just said so."

But then his anger returned at the words from the source of this mess. It was all Tooyama's fault!

"Just shut up! And leave us alone!" he yelled, grabbing Sakuno's wrist and dragging her away from the courts.

She pulled against him and yelled his name a couple of times, but he didn't let go and kept dragging her until they were far away from the bastard.

He came to a stop in front of the bench next to the soda machines. She didn't waist any time and yanked her hand out of his grasp. He turned around to see her in tears.

"W-w-wh…w-w-wh-why w-w-would you d-do that, R-Ryoma-kun?"

Damn it! Not tears! He didn't know how to handle tears! He couldn't just tell her to suck it up and act normal. That would just her even more. And then there'd be even more tears, maybe a puddle of them. What would his sempai-tachi do?

What was he thinking?! They were worse at these things than he was! What was he supposed to do?! Damn it all!

"W-why?" she cried.

His frazzled nerves couldn't take it anymore! Tooyama, tears, and her stupid stuttering! He let out all the frustration of the day on her.

He shoved her down onto the bench and held her there, his hands on her waist. She gasped, the tears momentarily stopping, but he wouldn't stop there. He glared into her eyes, his golden ones immediately capturing her hazel ones.

"You want to know why?!" he roared, getting in her face so close that their noses were touching. "It's because I'm the only one who can make you stutter! No one else! I won't have it any other way!"

Her eyes, bright from her tears, were nothing but completely astonished.

"W-what?"

"And you don't help any!" he accused, ignoring her question. "Don't let them touch you like that! Don't even let them get close enough to touch you! And fucking say no when he asks you to marry him! And don't you dare stutter when you say it!"

And then he kissed her, hard and demanding and passionate. Her lips were soft and the slightest bit slippery with lip-gloss. They felt wonderful and his own lips were tingling in the most pleasant way. But then, she pushed back the slightest bit, almost shyly, and the tingling traveled to his whole body.

He didn't want to break it, but he soon needed to breathe. He pulled away, breathing heavily. He was pleased to see she was panting as well. He pushed his nose against hers again and smirked.

"Got it?"

She nodded, accidentally brushing their lips together again. He took the chance and kissed her again, a little more softly this time, but still as passionate. He was bold enough to nibble on her lip a little before pulling away. She gasped lightly and he smirked again.

He lifted her up to her feet, keeping his hands on her waist. She stared at them like she had never seen a pair of hands before. Then she looked up at him with a confused expression.

"Ryoma-kun, d-does…does this mean…?"

He looked at her with that same arrogant air he had after he had won a match.

"Just so you're not confused, I'm the only one who can marry you."

He left no room for argument even though there wouldn't be one. He smirked and grabbed her wrist, pulling her in the direction of the court they had been at previously.

"A-ano…w-were are we going, Ryoma-kun?"

He licked his lips, tasting the cherry Ponta flavored lip-gloss that had rubbed off. He knew then that he really was going to marry her, no matter what.

"I'm going back to the courts and beat that bastard in a tennis match. You're going to watch and give me a kiss every time I score a point," he said.

It would be extra motivation to pound that bastard into the ground so hard he'd come out somewhere in America.

"B-but R-Ryoma-kun! Th-That will be a l-l-l-lot of k-kissing!" she said with the cutest blush across her cheeks.

He pulled her up beside him and kissed the tip of her nose.

"That's the idea."

She blushed ten shades of red and hid behind her bangs, but she was still stuttering because of him. He almost laughed aloud. It was that great of a feeling.

Yeah. Everything was right in his world, as long as she was stuttering because of him.

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**Author's Notes:** I could sigh. Writing one-shots totally ruins my word entry average. I had just gotten up to over 10,000 words per entry again too. Durn.

Poor Kin-chan. He's going to get murdered on the court. Oh well, shameless RyoSaku fluff anyone?


End file.
